Regimented, as in organized, controlled, and on top of your game? Yes. Regimented as in mean, militaristic, and Machiavellian? No, no, no.

There should be clear consequences of ignoring your classroom expectations, and you should be ready to address those during the first two weeks when students test your boundaries, but how you address those behaviors will set the tone of trust, respect and positivity for the rest of the year.

New teachers are often told “don’t smile until Christmas,” and several very successful teachers I know run their class like a boot camp until October, but ultimately, every teacher works out her management style through trial and error. Personally, I could not drive to a job every day for five months where I couldn’t smile. And even though I can be very intimidating, I have zero drill sergeant skills, so boot camping is not an option for me.

My approach is more like, “I’m a professional teacher who wants to arm you with the tools for a better life and help you discover and respect your own mind. I will expect nothing less than your best. I will honor that by bringing my best. I will not waste your time with busy work, but you will not waste my time with drama and trifling. In this class, we are about learning, as individuals and as a community. I take my role very seriously, and you should know your role too. You will be a better thinker, writer, reader, and human being for having been in my class.”

Think this to yourself every day. Walk into that classroom with this disposition on your face. Then make it happen. Exude positivity and confidence. You can truly change their lives. Believe that. Here are a few tips:

Connect with every kid that first week. This could be a home visit, a letter, or a call home just to say hello to her parents. Ask your bandies what instrument they play. Ask your ballers about their strengths. Ask your corner reader if she has read X; if she hasn’t, give her a copy to take home. These small things state an important message to kids: I see you. I see you as an individual. I know you. In high school, especially, kids can move through the day and never have a meaningful conversation with an adult if they don’t want to. Make sure every kid is on your radar every day.

Greet kids by name, welcome them, and then immediately engage them. If you haven’t read Harry Wong’s The First Days of School, you need to read it. Wong suggests you stand at your door and welcome kids with smiles and instructions. They will be nervous that first day. Be positive, be inviting. Check out these step-by-step scripts for a smooth first day.

Good idea – Always explain why a rule is a rule. Better idea – let the kids create the classroom norms. They will create seriously good rules, and there’s immediate buy-in because they’ve established their own boundaries. Make sure kids see why the rules you (or they) have chosen serve the community. Make sure they understand how the rules protect and aid everyone.

Say what you mean, and mean what you say. They’re watching you. Students want to know if you’re one of those teachers who has rules, but doesn’t really enforce them. They’ll know this in two days. Address every infraction in a calm, confident and firm manner. Remember, you are the adult in the room. You don’t have to threaten, scream, or belittle kids; deal with everything explicitly, stating this is what you’re doing, this is the rule, this is what I expect. And don’t wear everybody out with giving a dozen warnings. Act fairly and decisively. Then get back to the business of learning.

Make the consequence match the offense. The consequences should be established long before the rule is broken. Deal with small offenses in your classroom, and lean on your administrators for the big stuff. Don’t send kids to the office because they didn’t bring a pencil. And always be fair. If your favorite kid in the class is breaking a rule, exact the same consequence as if another kid had broken it. Then get back to the business of learning.

Always be alert. You can sense a shift from positive to negative energy. When you feel that shift, move quickly to bring things back in line with your lesson. Step into a group, shift focus, crack a joke. Every kid in that room is just as exhausted by drama as you are. They want you to deal with the issue.

Never create a show-down with a student. If you yell across the room at a kid for doing something, all heads swivel. You’ve now put her in the position to either comply or tell you to go jump in the lake. You can imagine which one she’ll choose. Don’t ask kids to make choices like that; you will lose. Move in close, address the offender quietly by name, tell her exactly how she can get back on task. State the offending behavior, state the correct behavior, give her an opportunity to change.

Being prepared, professional, and positive will curb 95% of all classroom management issues. Being prepared will guarantee your students are engaged which cuts down on chicanery. Sometime between now and when school starts, read Teach Like a Champion 2.0 , which offers 62 strategies for engaging students and maintaining high expectations. The book also comes with a DVD with over 70 videos of real teachers using these strategies.

Don’t let kids talk over you. I’m always surprised by how many teachers allow this. If I’m giving instructions or explaining something, I expect all kids to be listening. Do not tax them with long, boring lectures, but expect them to listen when you are speaking. Deal with the offenders individually; don’t punish the whole class.

Always be real, which sometimes means pretending you’re a better person than you really are. To paraphrase Whitman, you are large and contain multitudes. Every teacher must know when to use the hammer and when to use the kid gloves. You need to be versatile and self-aware enough to tap into which persona the situation demands: the magician, the healer, the listener, the guru, the crazy aunt, the wise sage, the storyteller, the performer, or the professional. And at the center of all these multitudes is an authentic person who is honest and caring, led by an ethical vision that far exceeds whatever is educationally trendy.

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1 Comment

Good stuff here. I’ve always hated that, “Don’t smile til Christmas” saying. That would never have worked for me. I think it’s important for kids to know that you love them right off the bat. I always explained that I love all kids and if a kid tried to “interrupt the learning process” for any of my kids, I would come down hard. When a kid was disrupting I would always say: are you interrupting the learning process? By Chriatmas they would say it to each other